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Monday, 8 September 2008
Maruti Suzuki’s first car in the Indian market was the legendary Maruti 800. The company has always excelled in small car segment. The success of Maruti Suzuki Alto and Maruti Suzuki WagonR is a clear example of the great endeavours the company has made in small car segment. Continuing the same focus, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI), leader in the passenger-car market, now plans to design small and compact fuel-efficient cars for India. The company has a belief that fuel efficient cars in the small segment will do wonders in the Indian market. Suzuki is doing research on the most effective engine technology that can be fitted in small cars whereas Maruti is going into the roots of the Indian market to design the best suited small cars exclusively for India. Will this effort of Maruti Suzuki reap tasteful fruits? Labels: Maruti 800, Maruti-Suzuki, Small-Car
Monday, 21 July 2008
The production of Tata Nano has already faced many obstacles to reach the final production stage. One more challenge approached the Nano when Maruti Suzuki organized a rural car fest in the Singur, Nano’s national production base. Organizing a car fair just before the launch of the Nano will definitely take both the car makers on an imminent battle. The primary objective of the car fair held by Maruti was to showcase a vast portfolio of Maruti cars and shell out good deals to lure customers. Through the fair, Maruti also hoped to tap into semi-urban and rural areas where the car sales are slow. It was a three day fair with a special finance section to explain car financing and other deals to prospective buyers. The fair was a big success with almost 20 cars sold out on the first day. Was this an attempt to announce deals, discounts and offers? Or was this a call for battle with the Tata? Labels: cars-India, Maruti 800, Nano
The long-awaited reclassification of passenger cars has brought in a great deal of confusion between the car makers and the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). Car makers are continually pushing for a better classification in terms of car length, engine displacement and horsepower but SIAM has only considered car length. SIAM reclassified car models on the basis of lengths. Car makers are outraged because they feel that if the classification criteria for segmentation changes, it will directly affect the car market shares. This is mainly because if cars are classified based on length, Maruti 800 will lead the segment. Because, if reclassification is done on the basis of car length then Maruti 800 will be the only car to fall under the first segment that classifies cars of up to 3.4-metre as A1. This will definitely affect the market share positions. Labels: car makers, indian automobile Industry, Maruti 800
Friday, 4 April 2008
Is General Motors creating its own segment of customers for its cars? It could be the fact, as the company now plans to launch a small car cheaper than its now popular car Spark. The existing small car already comes with a 1.0 liter engine and price tag of Rs 3.23 lakh. If the company plans to go for smaller engine displacement this would certainly land them in between Maruti-800 or with the 624 cc Tata Nano.
It is likely that the car will set off new wave of revolution of small cars as Maruti-800 is aging fast. With the new launch, having a lower price band, there will be tough competition in the 600cc to 800 cc car segment. It will be interesting to see if the consumer will be able to lap it up. Maybe you can own one car for each year and enjoy them all. Labels: competitions, Maruti 800, new car launch, new cars, small cars, Spark
Friday, 28 March 2008
Many who are expecting reduction in the price of Maruti-800 after Tata Nano’ appearance at Auto expo, will be disappoint to know the fact Maruti will not reduce any price of maruti-800 in future to compete with one lakh car Tata nano as Maruti does not want to compete with nano and is not even thinking to manufacture any new small car on the lines of ultra cheap car, Tata nano. Before Tata nano’s appearance, Maruti-800 was considered as one of the cheapest small car available in the country for many middle class families. When Tata motors have confirmed its production of one lakh car, many had thought that maruti would cut the price of maruti-800 on par with one lakh car to compete with nano. But now that suspense is over as Maruti openly clarified its intention that it will not reduce or cut down the price of Maruti-800 to compete with nano. Such honesty statement by maruti will really create conducive atmosphere in auto market leaving no place for unhealthy competition. Labels: Auto market competition, Car-Sales, Expansion in business, Maruti 800, Nano, One Lakh Car, small cars
Thursday, 27 March 2008
Maruti Suzuki India has always been on the forefront to beat competition by providing quality products. Launching its entry level sedan Swift DZire, maruti wanted to rock sedan segment in India. Maruti is very quick to study the minds of its customers and work accordingly as it has suddenly discontinued Maruti Esteem when people felt it was not up to their taste. Now, Maurti has launched DZire that replaced Esteem. Maruti already has achieved a grand success in small car segment by releasing popular brands like Maruti 800 and Maruti Swift. The success of cute, stylish and powerful Dzire which has generated a lot of excitement and curiosity among the car lovers, will be very crucial for Maruti to cement its position in sedan segment. Labels: Car-competition, Maruti 800, Maruti Swift, New Car, Sedans, small cars, Swift Dzire
Tuesday, 11 March 2008
Maruti is known for its commitment to provide cars at affordable prices and has proved it with the huge number of Maruti 800 cars it has sold over the past two decades. When most car companies are targeting urban customers by offering good discounts and free after sale services, Maruti is focussed on rural customers. Maruti will encourage rural masses to buy its cars by lending financial help to them. They have tied up with Shriram City Union Finance to help rural people get timely and hassle free financial assistance. Labels: Car-competition, Car-Sales, Finance, Maruti, Maruti 800, Maruti Alto
Friday, 22 February 2008
I dropped by a Tata dealership recently to see if I can book a Tata Nano. To my surprise, I found that the car has been booked all the way till 2010 and then I wondered ‘Mera Number Kab Ayega’? However, it’s good news that the Nano is finally rolling out in October or early November. It’s officially announced. I’ve been waiting for that car for a very long time now. When critics said that the car would be delayed till 2009 or further, I had become a little apprehensive and had almost convinced myself that the car would never hit the market. Though, I’m forced to wait in a long queue for the car, I do have this thing to look forward to. Until then I’ll just continue to drive my old Maruti 800. Submitted by LongNanoQueue Labels: Maruti 800, Tata, Tata Motors, tata nano
Monday, 30 April 2007
Wondering why the Indian automobile market was suddenly being bombarded by small cars with small engines? The reason is simple। The Finance Minister P Chidambaram in India’s last budget plan of 2006-2007 reduced the excise duty on small cars from the then 24% to the now 16%. However, he had decided to retain the excise duty on large cars at 24%. Furthermore, excise duty on raw materials such as aluminum and plastic, which are used in manufacturing cars, also reduced. Small cars were classified as those that are less than 4 metres in length and which consist of an engine under 1400 cc for petrol and 1500 cc for diesel। The immediate beneficiaries of this policy were Hyundai Santro, Tata Indica, Maruti 800, Maruti Alto, Maruti Swift, Maruti Wagon R, and Maruti Zen. Suddenly the market was swarming with competitors scraping to launch a model of a small car with a small engine। The Hyundai Getz with its 1400 cc engine was revamped and released as the Getz Prime that sported a 1.1 litre or a 1.3 litre engine that fell under the small car duty excise helping the manufacturers cut the base variant car cost by 10,000, which was then transferred to the consumers. The Fiat Palio was redesigned and released with a 1.1 litre engine under the classification of Fiat Palio Stile, again so that the manufacturers could benefit from the excise duty. Maruti started slashing 12 to 25 thousand rupees for a range of its small cars. Hyundai and Tata did the same. However, not all car manufacturers were happy with this new budget। Manufacturers of medium sized and luxury cars felt that they had been given a raw deal. Their reasoning was that most people who moved from using small cars to using medium sized cars did so because of their gradual increase in income and also because they could cope with the price difference. However, if small car prices decrease even further while medium sized car prices stay the same, then the margin of price difference is large enough to deter a consumer to shift from small cars to medium cars. Another reason that these manufacturers put forth was that a differential duty structure will lead to an uneven growth. This year, the automobile sector wanted to ask the Indian government to further reduce excise duties for small cars from 16% to 12% and additionally reduce duties on large cars from 24% to 16%. However, their dreams were smashed to the ground in March 2007. The Finance Minister decided not to make any changes to the excise duty of cars and instead increased the prices for aluminum and plastic. This over the year 2007-2008 will force all car manufacturers to raise the prices of all their products regardless of size. Thus, this will reduce the currently booming purchase of small cars to a trickle unless car manufacturers and dealers can provide lucrative discounts or EMI plans to prospective buyers. Labels: Excise duty, Hyundai Santro, Maruti 800, small cars, Small engine cars
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